Medusa's Touch

by Emily L. Byrne

Medusa Pilot Captain TiCara X273, ex-street kid and former bondslave, thought she wanted nothing more than to be captain of her own starship. Or, at least, that was all that she thought she wanted until Sherin Khan came back into her life. A bar singer turned corporate rep, Sherin is now working for Ser Trin Vahn, one of TiCara's best clients and head of Vahn Corp. Once they are thrown together on TiCara’s ship, TiCara and Sherin can no longer deny their simmering attraction to each other. A simple mission to transport the ailing Vahn to the legendary asteroid, Electra 12, for medical treatments turns dark and dangerous as betrayal leads to betrayal. TiCara's greatest enemy is pursuing them, there's a traitor on her crew and Sherin has a secret that can tear them apart. Can they learn to trust each other before it's too late? “Emily L. Byrne’s Medusa’s Touch draws the reader deeply into her deftly created universe of starships and danger and conflict, with a fascinating main character who is entirely relatable even while she pilots her ship by means of hi-tech tentacle implants. Whether she feels the exultation of being at one with her ship amidst “the splendor of the starfields,” or the ecstasy of sex with the beautiful, mysterious woman she can’t entirely trust, we feel it all with her, and gladly follow her through inner turmoil and blood-stirring battle. “ – Sacchi Green, Editor of Witches, Princesses and Women at Arms

Genres: Science Fiction, LGBT, Queer, Lesbian

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 3, 2018

Reviews

[Corrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

”TiCara X273 was a war orphan on FoxCred Corporate Station, a child of barely thirteen cycles, when she saw her first medusa pilot. By then, she had also seen so many other things that to call her a “child” seemed inappropriate. In the eyes of station security, she was a thief, alley scum who could be used for target practice or worse. Hiding in a spaceship docking bay where she might be seen and captured in order to watch the medusa ships come in was tantamount to suicide. She did it anyway.”

I really loved Medusa’s Touch. Emily L. Byrne did a great job with the mythology, the world building and getting in touch with the space-speak of 2345 was no trouble at all. Pilot-Captain TiCara is a wonderful character. From her hard-knock life as an orphan on the streets and later as a bond-slave, her implants, her attraction to Vahn Corp rep Sherin Khan to her love for her ship the Astra and its crew.

I’m going the easy cave girl routine (see what I did there, Michele?) with this one and refer to the fantastic review Cheyenne Blue wrote. I’m too lazy to do it any better (as if, ha!)

f/f

Themes: well-written space romp, ships… stations… space battles… intrigue… trust issues… hot sex… what’s not to love?!

4.4 stars

[Cheyenne Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

TiCara is a Medusa pilot--a human who has been modified with cyborg-like tentacle implants that sprout from her head like the snakes from the mythological Medusa. These Medusa implants allow her to pilot her specially designed ship by mind control, and gives her instant access to ship's systems. Medusa pilots are the upper echelon of pilots, but the implants mean they are both revered and feared.

To get the credits for the implants, TiCara spent years as a bondslave to a misogynistic POS, Zig, who (while it's not delved into in any detail) took full advantage of the power gradient and kept TiCara in an abusive relationship. Now with her own ship and a massive debt, TiCara is intent on paying this off as soon as possible, which means taking contracts in the shadow trade, the hardest and most dangerous jobs. When she is summoned to transport a Corp head, Vahn, to the mythical asteroid Electra for treatment that will extend his lifespan, TiCara is wary, but realises the danger of the mission, and the credits it will bring will allow her to own her ship free and clear. That Vahn has a rep, a beautiful and intriguing woman called Sherrin, is an extra bonus.

TiCara is a fabulous character. The author gives her backstory, along with that of the world she inhabits, in a long prologue. I'm not usually a fan of this approach, but the knowledge fleshes out TiCara's character and helps the reader understand some of her decisions. The worldbuilding is flawless and imbues every aspect of the story, from the word choices to the very twisty plot. Sherrin is more of a mystery but at the end her motivations are revealed.

Did I say twisty plot? Oh yeah, there totally is. It kept me guessing all the way to the end.

I know Emily's writing from her many erotic stories, and hence the erotic scenes between TiCara and Sherrin were smoking hot.

I haven't read much lesbian science fiction. I'm not sure why, as I love both lesbian romances and scifi, and this is a great blend of the two. I highly recommend this story.

[Meg · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is weak even on the prose level. It needed a better writer and a better editor and obviously had neither.

The relationship between Sherin and TiCara reads as if someone decided that there couldn't possibly be any kind of f/f relationship unless they had sex or were sexual with each other right away rather than building up any kind if actual relationship. I don't require all queer romance to have a slow burn. Sometimes one nice space captain lady meets another nice lady and just wants to get railed like the train's coming in at full speed, but it'd be nice if it made sense for Sherin to jump TiCara's bones that one time in a situation where, frankly, it's not clear that Sherin is in a position to fully and enthusiastically consent because she's not in a clear mental state.

So many things are out of order or not told to us until long after they'd be useful and frankly about 90% of this novel could've been edited away without impacting the story one bit. The author gets tedious and doesn't know how to keep pacing very well.

I gave up around half way through because life is short and there's better sapphic SF/F than this to be had.

[Elena · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one wasn't a winner for me. I got about a quarter of the way through and noped out after skimming the last few chapters. There's nothing especially wrong with it, but there's also nothing especially right with it. The plot was predictable and unpleasantly ominous, the characters weren't very interesting, and the writing didn't sing. The main character seemed to only care about money and sex, which is not any more appealing in a queer woman than it is in a straight man.

[Candace · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story melds science fiction, of the Buck Rodgers variety, with an erotic lesbian love story. If the idea of someone "twisting" their finger up someone else's "ass" is your idea of a real turn-on, this could be the science fiction-cum-erotica you've been longing for. I give the author credit for trying to create an imaginative back story and some space jargon. It's also passably edited. But when I find myself skimming the sex scenes in a lesbian novel, that's not a good sign.

[Terrance Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is at heart a fairly conventional f/f erotic romance is here gussied up as space opera with an interesting transhumanist element. TiCara X273 is a medusa pilot, having received a set of neuro-synaptic implants that allow her to interface with the space freighter she captains. TiCara’s implants also enhance and help to moderate her emotions; these “medusas” sometimes seem to have a will of their own, which makes for some of the story’s most entertaining moments. When TiCara is commissioned to ferry an aging corporate bigwig to a remote system in search of a technological fountain of youth, she jumps at the prospect of a rich payoff, along with the opportunity to make time with said bigwig’s beautiful assistant, Sherin. Pursued by space pirates and corporate secret police, aware of a spy in her midst and unsure of whom to trust, TiCara has plenty to occupy her when she isn’t lost in romantic self-doubt, obsessing about or actively pursuing Sherin.

Drawing heavily on the conventions of cinematic space opera, space travel here is portrayed as relatively easy and routine, imaginary tech helps to gloss over problems of distance and time, and space battles in zero gravity are played out like conventional earthbound shoot-‘em-ups. While, in real life, there may be ten thousand potentially fatal hazards in space at any given second, Byrne generally keeps things sufficiently engaging to encourage a relatively hefty suspension of disbelief.

I found Byrne’s style a tad dry in spots, a little too bogged down with superfluous stage business that doesn’t seem to put the story forward in any meaningful way. At times the generic erotic romance elements—endless daydreaming and adolescent self-doubt—detract from the sci-fi/adventure narrative, dulling the sharper edges of the plot. Like too many stories of this kind, imaginary futuristic jargon and slang can do more to impede a clear narrative flow than enhance a sense of authenticity. When tech overwhelms the humanity of the story, neither science nor fiction are well served. I would have liked to read more about the villain of the piece, who is by far the most interesting character in the tale, and could have used more of a build-up to raise the stakes of the ultimate set-piece, well done as it is.

In the end, I think Byrne has succeeded in creating an entertaining, essentially human story with Medusa’s Touch and that is an achievement not to be dismissed. Recommended.

[Joyce Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not turning to stone!

The cover sold me on this one. Loved the,background story and coming of age, awesomeness on the ship. If this Author comes around in my next rotation, I’ll have to read it. Off to my next adventure.